how to enable my end user to design his workflow!

Question

greetings everyone,

thank you in advance for any helpful info/resources u might point me to..

as a developer.. i have been reading a lot in WWF resources.. and i know now how to design a workflow instance and host it in my host application and then execute it..

 

but unfortunatley my requirement is the following:

i should not provide a ready working state machine wf for my end user and ask him to execute it.. rather i want to enable my end user to construct the workflow instance himself.. that is: talking about state machine workflows.. (say provide a form where he can choose an initial state for his object >>"document" and specify the set of actions that can be made on the document while in initial state.. and then specify that the next state would be "...." and also its set of possible actions are "..." )

ofcourse all states and set of actions will be say dropDownLists with values i hardcoded and ofcourse took care of their functional implementation.

 

if u are lost.. if u have took a look at the Sharepoint Designer 07.. you would probably know what i mean. i want to design something that enables my end user to construct workflow instances.. enabling other users to use those workflows for circulating their different types of documents in their organization.

 

i would have used the Sharepoint Designer instead.. but i want to include a list of "Set Of Actions" that a user could take when a document is in a specific state or another..

 

any link of article or book u recommend or any tip at all that guides me will be much appreciated!

 

best regards

 

 

 

 

Answer 1

1. You can rehost the workflow designer. This article explains the rehosting and you can find the related sample here

you can take a look at the WF SDK rehosting sample. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms741702.aspx

 

2. Check out this simple editor posted by Mark Schmidt.

http://blogs.msdn.com/markhsch/archive/2005/10/06/478042.aspx

Answer 2

dear SonaliC,

thank u very much for ur input.. indeed thats a great resource to: "rehost WF designer"..

 

yet right now what i am stuck in is the following:

 

i am trying to create a Dynamic State Machine designer "specific to my clients businesss field".

 

i am talking about document approval system.

 

i want to enable the user to create workflows by: (((choosing))) from predefined states of workflow (that i implemented).. and lay them down as state machine workflow states from initial to final state in an order of his desire.. and then.. i want him to specify what sort of actions are allowed to be performed in each state. (again choosing from a pre-impelemented set of actions). associating each state with allowed actions.

 

example, my user should be able to specify the following: 

1- initial state: incomming. allowed actions: create outgoing, transfer, save

2- next state is: (opened). allowed actions: sign, transfer

3- Final state is : (closed). allowed actions: save, archieve

 

and thus my user would be able to create his state machine workflow..!

 

any pointer.. any example.. anything would be so much appreciated.. as i am very lost!

 

thank you again